Hey there,
As someone who is going through the process of buying my first plane, there’s no day I don’t learn something new about the challenges of aircraft ownership.
I would like to share something with you and get your opinion.
My two nearest airfields don’t have any hangar space available. This doesn’t surprise me as I’m aware of the challenges. However, both airfields offered me parking at the appron but “I’m afraid we run out of tie downs spots”.
When I asked what happens if there’s a storm, the response from one of them was, “Unfortunately, our Terms & Conditions place no liability on us”.
I know I’m naive. But this one quite surprised me. Imagine this – I park just beside a plane that is tied down. My parking spot doesn’t have tie downs. A storm comes, and my plane decides to kiss the plane beside or worth, causing damage to the airport facilities. Who is responsible? Me.
Do you think that we should avoid this kind of long parking arrangement, or am I overreacting?
Would love to hear your thoughts.
To me it’s a clear-cut case: avoid.
What kind of aircraft do you plan on buying? Can it stay outside or does it need a hangar?
What are your other options in terms of airfields a bit further away?
In my case, I ended up keeping the hangar space of the plane I bought. It’s located 2 hours away (by a relaxing train ride) from my home in Munich. Price is reasonable, particularly considering that finding a hangar space around Munich is next to impossible, even more so at a reasonable price. The long commute prevents me from flying during the week. But so far it has been acceptable. Not ideal of course, but acceptable.
Fernando wrote:
buying my first plane
Excellent! Congratulations in advance.
I’m in a similar situation. For keeping an aircraft in southern UK there isn’t much choice.
I got big rubber chocks (£100 on Amazon) and roped them together with bungees through the holes so they pull tight to the mainwheels. It’ll take a lot of wind to move the plane. For liability in either direction, make sure you’re insured. Maybe tell the airport you think this is a safety issue; if no-one tells them they won’t know 
and keep all correspondence in case it turns nasty.
I would get the space first. You can always move later, or join a waiting list for tie-downs or hangar. My neighbour installed tiedowns at his own expense by contacting the airfield owner direct with an almost fait accompli “We’ll drill an x sized hole in the tarmac, install this expanding bolt, and use this low-profile ring. Datasheets here and here. The airfield will be unaffected.”.
“We’ll drill an x sized hole in the tarmac, install this expanding bolt, and use this low-profile ring. Datasheets here and here. The airfield will be unaffected.”.
And it takes about 30 minutes.
If your parking space is on the grass, would non-permanent tie-downs be accepted? (corkscrew or similar) This could get you going until you find a more permanent solution.
Fernando wrote:
When I asked what happens if there’s a storm, the response from one of them was, “Unfortunately, our Terms & Conditions place no liability on us”.
Corrosion is your worst enemy !
A touring aircraft parked into wind can survive storms with wing covers, big wheel chocks, stalled controls…
What kind of aircraft is it? If you have a permanent parking spot I would ask them to drill in attachment points. If that is not possible I would place big concrete blocks. Probably the best plan is to actually make them on site. Buy buckets of the right size, buy some steel hardware to make the attachment points and bags of concrete. Just make them really heavy. Many attach 20kg to their planes, that is not going to help much.
Angle iron driven in in an X was used by a solo geologist to hang from rope on a cliff near here. I’d use that on grass.
Wings will provide lift in wind.
I’ve seen a light aircraft surrounded on three sides with earthworks, in a very windy grass strip in West Scotland.
Capitaine wrote:
It’ll take a lot of wind to move the plane.
Ibra wrote:
A touring aircraft parked into wind can survive storms with wing covers, big wheel chocks, stalled controls…
I didn’t know this but good to know while touring and not being parked in a hangar.
My plane was parked in the grass for a few days while it I waited for the space to become available (construction issues). For that period, I tied down the aircraft using two concrete blocks. Each was 25kg and for the safety of other aircrafts I had to move those 4-5 meters away in case I went flying. Airfield operators had agreed to this arrangement.
For that period, I tied down the aircraft using two concrete blocks. Each was 25kg and for the safety of other aircrafts I had to move those 4-5 meters away in case I went flying. Airfield operators had agreed to this arrangement.
Those bits of concrete are very useful to prevents aircraft from drifting on the ground from lateral forces but they are useless to keep the aircraft on the ground vertically: if headwind exceeds stall speed, the wings should be able to carry 1T MTOW, so 25kg is not enough to stop it, even tie-down ropes to fixed attachment are not even rated for 200kg pull 
Attaching the tail and chocks on wheels while locking the controls in full back position does better job in terms of killing the lift from into wind, I understand one should not use parking break on wheels (to avoid breaking fluid leaks and leave some room for “aircraft to stall” in case of gusts) and ideally putting wing & airframe covers (they deteriorate lift and raise stall speed)
Having said that, this can happen out of nowhere, this was a tornado in Essex at my home airport !
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/16283729/freak-tornado-essex-airfield-costing-pounds-aircraft-damage/
